Things KU does so well noticeably absent in loss

By SAM MELLINGERThe Kansas City Star (TNS)

Sunday

Mar 27, 2016 at 12:01 AM

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — The end always happens soon, before you expect it, because one moment you imagine how your team is going to win again because that’s all they’ve done for two months. The next moment, your point guard is diving after a ball he lost in the final seconds.

Another missed chance. Another locker room full of tears.

The Kansas basketball season ended with a punch. That’s true in ways both good and bad. The season ended with Kansas punching, and hard, which is at least better than the whimpers that have marked some recent NCAA Tournament losses.

But taking a punch still hurts, and so now the group that for a while had been college basketball’s best team must take inventory of what went wrong in a 64-59 loss to Villanova in the South Region final here on Saturday.

So many of the things this team had done so well for so long — Perry Ellis scoring, ruthless ball movement, rising to the toughest moments in the final minutes — never happened Saturday night. There is no good way to lose an NCAA Tournament game, particularly as the top overall seed and amid the pressures that come along with being Kansas, but this one will leave the players and coaches and fans with an empty feeling.

All year, Kansas was at its best in the moments that mattered the most. On this night, the highlights will show Villanova playing faster, tougher, freer and smarter.

Every disappointment needs somewhere for the blame to go, so there will be talk of Ellis playing his worst game of the season in his last game at Kansas. There will be questions as to why the Jayhawks played so tight for so long, or about some questionable calls by the officials. At the final buzzer, Kansas assistant Kurtis Townsend screamed at a referee, appearing to say, “You were awful tonight!” Bill Self has now won just two of eight regional finals, the game he calls the toughest of the tournament.

This is a different kind of loss. Three years ago, it was Elijah Johnson’s meltdown against Michigan. Two years ago, it was Andrew Wiggins scoring just four points against Stanford. Last year, it was a roster-wide backdown against Wichita State.

This time, KU just got beat. Some of it they did to themselves with decisions that were too slow and adjustments that were too late. But Villanova earned it, too.

This particular group of Jayhawks did not have the depth of talent of the 2008 team, or the star power of the 2012 team, but they pushed themselves to the doorstep of the Final Four because they were relentlessly effective. They were made up of complementary parts, each man knowing exactly what was needed in both the big picture and the moment.

This was not the prototype of a powerhouse, however. Bill Self talked often of how the makeup of his roster left a smaller margin for error than some of his best teams, and it had been so long since these guys had lost — 61 days, actually — that it was easy to forget what he meant.

Those flaws showed up on this night. Villanova swarmed Ellis, and for too long the Jayhawks struggled to find points from the others on the floor. They committed 16 turnovers — including seven in a stretch of eight possessions of the first half — many on slow decisions, bizarre lapses, or in the face of Villanova pressure.

In so many ways, this was a departure from how KU had played for two months. The Jayhawks did not pass well, they did not drive effectively enough, and they missed open looks on three-pointers.

At one point during a stoppage, Wayne Selden jumped to wave his hand above the rim, presumably to knock the lid off. It didn’t help. He missed all six of his three-pointers. As a team, KU missed 16 of 22. All year, Kansas shredded zone defenses. On this night, the zone shredded Kansas.

All Tournament losses are missed opportunities, and this one will be remembered the same way. Kansas would’ve played Oklahoma in the national semifinals, a tough opponent but one it beaten twice this season. This is a team with a strong combination of good guards, a dynamic scorer in Ellis, and strength inside.

For months, that was enough to convince a plurality of the college basketball world that there was no better team in the country. The best and worst part of the NCAA Tournament is that all of that can be wiped away in 40 minutes.

This is Kansas, so another good team will be back next year. Depending on a few decisions — one by the nation’s top recruit, and others by players like Selden on the NBA — the Jayhawks could be even better next season.

This was a high-level basketball game, worthy of a Final Four or even a national championship. The arena was intense, fans on all sides of the lower bowl standing for most of the second half. In the end, the Jayhawks’ season ended against a team built much like themselves — experienced, tough and smart.

That could have been Kansas. And for so long, it looked like it was going to be Kansas. Instead, another March disappointment. The Jayhawks will watch next weekend’s games and feel like they could beat any of the teams playing.

They’ll be right, which is probably what hurts the most. Another Kansas team among the best in the country, watching college basketball’s biggest games from home.

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